If you’ve been mourning the cancellation of Apple’s long-running “Single of the Week” promotion, we’ve got good news for you, as Apple has added a new “Free on iTunes” section to the iTunes Store, which includes free musical tracks and television episodes.
At launch, the “Free on iTunes” section in the U.S. store sports 16 songs from artists including The Bright Light Social Hour, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Machine Head. The eclectic selection meshes with Apple’s previous practice of highlighting unknown or up-and-coming artists.
The television episodes included in the free offerings run the gamut from reality shows – including episodes from such shows as My Big Fat Fabulous Life, and Breaking Greenville – to scripted fare, such as the pilot episodes from Fox’s new Backstrom detective series featuring Rainn (“The Office”) Wilson, and new science fiction series 12 Monkeys.
The cancellation of the iTunes “Single of the Week” brought great sorrow to lovers of free musical tracks. The promotion had run for over a decade in a number of countries.
While the Free on iTunes section offers a welcome return of free media offerings to the iTunes Store, it remains to be seen if they will expand the bounty to include free iBooks or movie offerings.
